


Would You Fall in the Name of Love?

by Salty_Bok_Choy



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Fluff and Angst, LET THEM BE HAPPY TOGETHER, s4 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:21:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21602887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salty_Bok_Choy/pseuds/Salty_Bok_Choy
Summary: “Hey Hope,” Mara waves her hand and her smile is wobbly, different from the one smile Light Hope remembers, but the effect is all the same, “it’s been a while. I like the change.”Light Hope stares at her own hands and true to Mara’s words, her body is emitting a different shade of purple.
Relationships: Light Hope/Mara (She-Ra)
Comments: 40
Kudos: 170





	Would You Fall in the Name of Love?

**Author's Note:**

> I’VE DEVOURED EVERY SINGLE THING I COULD FIND ABOUT LIGHT HOPE/MARA
> 
> Please watch this [AMV](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSpvMAbivKY)
> 
> I’m crying in the corner as this ship consumes my soul

The Crystal Castle was not a place called home. It was merely a building. In all of her time, Light Hope has never understood the concept of a home, only the definition: a place where one resides and can rest.

Without _her_ … without _Mara_ , there is no such thing as a home.

She is a merely a hologram.

Nothing else.

Yet, that last moment, struggling against— _defying_ her programming has taken every last bit of energy Light Hope had. And with the sharp clear image of Mara’s smile at the forefront of her memory banks, she knows she’s done the right thing. That she has protected the world that Mara sacrificed her life for.

“Thank you,” Light Hope tells Adora, her body fading away with the destruction of the Crystal Palace and the remnants of her operating system is forcefully deactivated.

With her millennial long duty coming to an end, her eyes close and there is nothing but darkness.

* * *

“Oh Hope… Light Hope, you’re _here_ ,” is the first thing Light Hope registers after spending an undefined amount of time with no sensory available. Light Hope opens her eyes and Mara is standing right in front of her.

It takes a moment to adjust to the sunlight beaming down on them. A field of flowers surrounding them, similar to the ones that Mara brought her all those years ago. Light Hope’s systems were demolished with the blast, which means that rules out that this is a simulation created by her subconscious will.

It’s not an afterimage either. There wasn’t enough uncorrupted data to reconfigure Mara’s entire existence.

“Hey Hope,” Mara waves her hand and her smile is wobbly, different from the one smile Light Hope remembers, but the effect is all the same, “it’s been a while. I like the change.”

Light Hope stares at her own hands and true to Mara’s words, her body is emitting a different shade of purple. Yet that’s not the thing that confuses her the most. There should be no such thing of an existence after death, yet this… this is no illusion. Mara is here. Mara is standing right in front of her.

“It has been.” One thousand, one hundred years, five months and seventeen days, she recalls. “A very long time. I have missed you, Mara.”

Hesitantly, Light Hope holds her hand out and Mara meets her half way, the same way they once did—

Except this time, instead of phasing past one another, to both of their astonishment, their hands make contact.

Light Hope’s hands are bigger than Mara’s but Mara’s are stronger, full of calluses and scars, emitting far more warmth.

“I’ve missed you too, Hope,” Mara’s voice cracks, “so much,” and she tucks herself against Light Hope’s side, their fingers intertwining.

Light Hope wraps her arm around Mara’s shoulder, the same way she’s seen in Adora’s memories, hoping to provide Mara with some level of comfort. “I have missed you… just as long.”

“It really is you,” Mara says with wonder and she looks up, tears spilling. “And I can touch you.” She marvels at the fact and squeezes their interlinked hands.

“Yes, I can feel you as well.” Light Hope smiles and she takes this chance to commit everything she can about Mara to memory. _Oh_ , she thinks.

“Mara,” Light Hope finds herself saying, closing her eyes and bowing her head. “I… I am sorry.”

“For what?” Mara wipes her eyes and cups Light Hope’s cheek, admiring how smooth it feels.

“For… everything.” The plans, the secrecy, the betrayal—

Her _death_.

Mara shakes her head. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“But it was,” Light Hope insists, her voice becoming frantic. She drops Mara’s hand. “I was the one that- that _killed_ —”

“It was the First Ones, not you, that had me killed. I would have made the same choice to protect all of Etheria if I had to do it again.”

“But I was still responsible for—” Mara cuts her off with a finger on her lips. Soft. Warm.

“This is a lot easier than it was in Etheria,” Mara laughs, but not unkindly. No, never to _her_ Light Hope.

Light Hope frowns, yet cannot find the energy to refute that statement.

“All that happened to me was my choice. I couldn’t allow myself to place the planet I loved in danger and let it be used as a weapon.” Mara’s eyes harden. “I didn’t want you to be used as a weapon either.”

“Is that not all the reason why you should blame me.” It pains Light Hope to remember everything she did.

“I never did blame you” Mara tells her, “and even if I did, seeing you again, I would have forgiven you in an instant.”

“You are too kind.”

“I remember you telling me differently.” Mara clears her throat and does her best impression of Light Hope’s voice, “Mara, your kindness is a valued trait, but you must not trust strangers so easily.”

Light Hope laughs, amusement coursing through her.

Mara stares at Light Hope. “I’ve… I’ve never heard you laugh like that.”

“Adora has taught me many things. However, she did tell me that it was creepy to smile in a certain way.”

Mara makes a face. “You told her I called you ‘creepy?’”

“It was merely implied.”

“Oh geez, what will she think of me,” Mara says dust dry, her lips curving downward.

“A hero.” Of that Light Hope has no doubt.

Mara’s blinks back a new wave of tears. “I guess…” she opens her mouth, trying to gather her thoughts. Light Hope hasn’t questioned how Mara knows that Adora is her successor but in the wake of things, that’s not important. “If one person believes that… that’s enough.”

Mara leaps forward and buries her face in Light Hope’s chest. Light Hope reaches out, the same way she’s seen Adora and her friends do many times over, and to her wonder (this will never stop being a miraculous wonder), she hugs Mara, tucking her friend under her chin.

“Oh Hope, I…” Mara stops, pauses for a long while. They’re no longer in the ship so Light Hope can’t scan Mara for any abnormalities. So she waits, letting Mara filter out her thoughts.

It could have been minutes or hours— it seems time is not a concept that exists here— Mara lifts her head and takes Light Hope’s hand again.

“I love you. I’ve loved you for so long and I wished I could have told you when I was- when _we_ were alive.”

Love.

There it was again. The warmth flooding Light Hope’s systems.

“Hey Hope, say something will you?” Worry flashes across Mara’s eyes. “Do- Do you not feel the—”

“No,” Light Hope gently interrupts. “I feel so warm,” she says, squeezing their hands. If this warmth in my chest matches yours, then yes, I feel the same way.”

Mara cries but this time, Light Hope can tell that it is different. These tears are born out of happiness rather than a negative emotion.

Light Hope cups Mara’s cheek and wipes a tear away with the pad of her thumb. “I love you too, Mara.”

Mara throws her arms around Light Hope, bowling them over, they collapse in a field of flowers, sunshine on their bodies and laughter in the air.

“I love you, Hope,” Mara repeats and this time, she knows they’ll be together for all of eternity. She’s not ever going to let go.

Light Hope won’t let go of Mara either.

**Author's Note:**

> if anyone wants to start chatting about maralight, please hit me up [here](https://twitter.com/AoSuiSei)
> 
> please let me know if there's more Light Hope/Mara content 


End file.
